Militants use Syrian kids as human shields: Report

The foreign-backed militant groups in Syria use children as young as eight years of age as ‘human shields,’ says a rights organization.

According to a recent report by Save the Children organization, some young boys in Syria are “being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields.”

The report said one monitoring group had documented the “deaths of at least 17 children associated with armed groups” since the start of the conflict in Syria two years ago.

“Many other children in armed groups have been severely injured; some have been permanently disabled,” Save the Children stated.

Unrest has gripped Syria since March 2011 and the government says the turmoil, which has killed many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, is being orchestrated from outside the country.

Meanwhile, recent videos showed the commander of a US-backed militant group in Aleppo, northwestern Syria, saying that when the kids arrive, they are children, but when they leave, they become killing machines.

...The disagreements between the Obama Administration and Netanyahu do not signal a divide between Israel and the US. The strategic relationship between Israel and the United States is still intact. Nor does the gap between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party over Netanyahu’s March 3 speech reflect divisions between Israel and the US as much as it represents divisions among the US political establishment, specifically between the realists and the neo-conservatives...

03.03.2015

Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a social scientist, award-winning writer, columnist, and researcher. His works have been carried internationally in a broad series of publications and have been translated into more than twenty languages including German, Arabic, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Armenian, Persian, Dutch and Romanian. His work in geopolitical sciences and strategic studies has been used by various academic and defense establishments in their papers and defense colleges for military officers. He is also a frequent guest on international news networks as a geopolitical analyst and expert on the Middle East.